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February 14, 2007
The Ethic of Reciprocity
It's a fundamental principle that young people do stupid things. Today you'll find our youth drinking themselves into the gutter or recklessly driving customised cars, but while the former has been the case for many years, the latter is a relatively new occurence.
Back in the 1980s there was another opportunity for outpourings of youthful stupidity; politics. By 1986 we'd had 7 years of Thatcher and the Tories; the continued decline of the Labour Party following the longest suicide note in history; the Miners Strike; Cruise, Pershing and the Peace Movement. Student politics was radically polarised, between a bitter Left and a jubilent and ascendent Right.
After a Damascene conversion a young Paul Staines eventually ended up a member of the Federation of Conservative Students in Hull. So far, so normal, but as an active member of the FCS he, possibly in a moment of naivety, wrote in 1986 an ill-advised letter to another political body. A journalist picked up on this letter, and published an article about the activities of young Staines. Only Paul knows how it was received; perhaps with dismay or perhaps with a modicum of glee that a young student had made the media sit up and take notice.
Skip ahead to 1990 and, by means known only to himself and David Rose (the journalist), Paul obtains a concilliatory letter, apologising for the tenor if not the content of the original article.
And that ought to be the end to the story. David Rose continued his journalistic career and Paul Staines followed the pursuits of raves, Mammon and Libertarianism.
Which brings us to the present day. Paul's blog is feted by the Right as the number one political blog in the UK. Gossip, rumours and smears abound and a flippant, cocksure attitude to the repercussions is displayed.
Guido Fawkes - So Rosie, Where is Guido's Writ? Guido has a mini-corporation behind him, Global & General Nominees LLC of Nevis. If you want to sue the publishers go ahead, the office for service is properly registered in accordance with the law. The laws of the island require that the plaintiff first deposits US$25,000 with the court before commencing action.
Which brings us neatly to the events of last weekend, when a copy of the original article was found in LexisNexis. The body of the article was published by Tim Ireland, Justin Keating, Tom Watson and Sunny Hundal, followed rapidly by the threat of libel action from Staines who apparently had a retraction of the original article. Subsequent events showed that the "retraction" was nothing more than the letter from David Rose written in 1990.
Now the Guardian is safe, as the statute of limitations for libel long sinced expired on the original publication. However the nature of libel is such that any defence would rest on provability, and in all likelihood the necessary evidence has been recycled as firelighters by now. Throw in a 150 year old precedent - Brunswick vs Harmer - and the necessity to have deep pockets to defend a libel action and you won't see a copy of the article on any blogs.
For now.
The bottom line is that the article was not retracted. It is still out there and careful searching will find it.
What this has shown is the breathtaking hypocrisy of Paul Staines. Here is a man who, when the going gets tough, reaches not for his Libertarian principles, but rather for his lawyer and his wallet. If this whole affair has show one incontravertible truth, it is that Paul can give it, but can't take it.
There is still an interview, which will appear at Pickled Politics, but this is the last time this blog will ever make reference to Paul de Laire Staines AKA Guido Fawkes, hypocrite.
Update - 10:20 - Justin has his final word on the matter.
Update - 11:30 - Tim's position on the matter.
Update - 13:50 - As Unity sees it
Update - 15th Feb 2007 23:30 - Sunny's piece is now online and well worth reading.
Posted by Clive on February 14, 2007 10:02 AM in the category The Internet